Range Financial Group LLC Raises Holdings in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Range Financial Group LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 3.9% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 6,542 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after purchasing an additional 246 shares during the period. Range Financial Group LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $1,378,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of AAPL. Mid American Wealth Advisory Group Inc. boosted its position in Apple by 26.4% during the first quarter. Mid American Wealth Advisory Group Inc. now owns 14,193 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $2,434,000 after acquiring an additional 2,967 shares during the last quarter. CJM Wealth Advisers Ltd. boosted its position in Apple by 0.5% during the first quarter. CJM Wealth Advisers Ltd. now owns 18,528 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $3,177,000 after acquiring an additional 100 shares during the last quarter. Rise Advisors LLC boosted its position in Apple by 133.9% during the first quarter. Rise Advisors LLC now owns 4,523 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $776,000 after acquiring an additional 2,589 shares during the last quarter. Osher Van de Voorde Investment Management boosted its position in Apple by 10.0% during the first quarter. Osher Van de Voorde Investment Management now owns 101,555 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $17,415,000 after acquiring an additional 9,230 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Alaska Permanent Fund Corp boosted its position in Apple by 3.2% during the first quarter. Alaska Permanent Fund Corp now owns 26,107 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $4,477,000 after acquiring an additional 818 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 60.41% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 223,986 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, October 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $224.46, for a total transaction of $50,275,897.56. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 3,280,180 shares in the company, valued at $736,269,202.80. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. In related news, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 223,986 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, October 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $224.46, for a total transaction of $50,275,897.56. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 3,280,180 shares in the company, valued at $736,269,202.80. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Luca Maestri sold 59,305 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, October 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $226.52, for a total transaction of $13,433,768.60. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 107,788 shares in the company, valued at approximately $24,416,137.76. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 517,924 shares of company stock worth $114,786,399 over the last quarter. 0.06% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Apple Stock Performance

Shares of Apple stock opened at $235.00 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $3.60 trillion, a PE ratio of 36.55, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.40 and a beta of 1.24. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $225.78 and its 200-day simple moving average is $208.11. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.29, a quick ratio of 0.91 and a current ratio of 0.95. Apple Inc. has a 1 year low of $164.07 and a 1 year high of $237.49.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The iPhone maker reported $1.40 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.34 by $0.06. The business had revenue of $85.78 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $84.43 billion. Apple had a net margin of 26.44% and a return on equity of 147.15%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $1.26 EPS. Equities analysts forecast that Apple Inc. will post 6.65 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Apple Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 15th. Investors of record on Monday, August 12th were paid a dividend of $0.25 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, August 12th. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.43%. Apple’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 15.55%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on the stock. New Street Research reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $225.00 price target on shares of Apple in a report on Wednesday, September 25th. Jefferies Financial Group cut shares of Apple from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $205.00 to $212.92 in a research note on Monday, October 7th. Tigress Financial boosted their price objective on shares of Apple from $245.00 to $295.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 28th. TD Cowen boosted their price objective on shares of Apple from $220.00 to $250.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, July 29th. Finally, Oppenheimer reissued a “buy” rating and set a $250.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research note on Tuesday, October 1st. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have assigned a hold rating, twenty-two have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Apple presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $239.27.

Apple Company Profile

Apple Inc designs, manufactures, and markets smartphones, personal computers, tablets, wearables, and accessories worldwide. The company offers iPhone, a line of smartphones; Mac, a line of personal computers; iPad, a line of multi-purpose tablets; and wearables, home, and accessories comprising AirPods, Apple TV, Apple Watch, Beats products, and HomePod.